ForeverForever’s Shadow Priest talent lets Devouring Plague jump when an enemy dies
Devouring Plague deals Shadow damage over time and heals the Priest. Forever’s Shadow talent, Devouring Contagion, lets that disease jump to another nearby enemy when its first target dies. The time left on the spell continues on the new target.
What Devouring Plague does, and who gets the jump
Devouring Plague is a Priest spell that puts a disease on an enemy. It deals Shadow damage over time, rather than all its damage at once, and that damage heals the caster. The recorded Forever description gives the disease a 24-second duration.
Blizzard makes the spell available to all Priest races at level 20 in Forever. The transfer comes from Devouring Contagion, a separate row-five talent in the Shadow tree. A Priest who learns Plague but does not select that talent does not gain the described jump.
When the enemy dies, the disease changes targets
With Devouring Contagion selected, a target dying while your Plague is still active triggers the transfer. The disease moves to another living enemy nearby, which receives only the time remaining on the original application.
Suppose a monster dies with four seconds of Plague left. An eligible nearby enemy receives those four seconds of the damage-over-time effect. The disease is continuing on that second enemy; it is not damaging the corpse or starting a fresh 24-second cast.
This is intended talent behavior. Blizzard presents the jump as part of Devouring Contagion’s design. It also reduces Plague’s mana cost. Learning the baseline spell alone is not enough to trigger either talent benefit.
Disease leaves this targetTarget defeatedTime on the second enemy4 secondsThe new enemy receives the remaining four seconds.
The remaining duration transfers. It does not reset to the spell’s full duration.
Four seconds is an example of the described rule, not a recorded combat result.
Why this matters in a dungeon, and what about PvP?
Picture a Shadow Priest fighting a dungeon pack. One enemy dies before Plague has finished ticking, while another is still beside it. The described transfer gives the unused part of that cast somewhere to go. An early kill and another enemy in range are the useful combination.
A nearly expired Plague brings little time with it. A lone boss offers no second target for the jump, although the talent’s mana saving can still help. This is a transfer to a new enemy, not a promise that Plague will hit the entire pack at once.
Blizzard does not label this a PvP-only talent. In PvP, the described trigger would likewise need the afflicted enemy player to die with Plague still active and another eligible enemy nearby. We have not verified live PvP transfers or mode-specific exceptions, so this is the stated rule rather than a tested PvP tactic.
The talent rank changes cost and reach
The September 30 community snapshot records 25% less mana and a five-yard jump at rank one, rising to 50% less mana and ten yards at rank two. Blizzard’s announcement describes five yards without a rank breakdown.
More reach can make it easier for a nearby enemy to qualify, but neither rank gives the transferred disease a fresh timer. Check your current beta tooltip when choosing points; the rank comparison records client descriptions, not a measured damage comparison.
- Mana cost reduction
- 25%
- Transfer range
- 5 yards
Devouring Contagion · September 30 community snapshot. Range is measured from the enemy that dies. The diagram illustrates reach, not target selection.
Devouring Plague is the spell. Devouring Contagion is the Shadow talent that adds the jump.
Blizzard Entertainment ↗ · Guided highlight over Blizzard’s unspent Priest tree. The highlighted talent adds the jump; this is not an allocated build.
View the original, unmarked tree
Sources and context
Blizzard describes the intended talent. The September 30 community snapshot supplies the spell description and talent ranks. We have not tested live transfers, receiving-target selection, repeat jumps or PvE/PvP differences. This covers Forever beta, not Retail’s version of the spell.
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